A Matter of Time
by Anna Maxwell
Summary: At 28 years old, Brad Crawford had a vison of Schuldig's death. He could not stop it. Twenty years later, two young people with strange abilities give him the chance to do it all over again.
1. Birth, Death, Time, and Other Impossible...

Title: A Matter of Time  
  
Author: Anna Maxwell  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Disclaimer: The original characters of Weiß Kreuz do not belong to me. All original characters not in Weiß probably do.  
  
Archive: Absolutely! Just email me at starchaser478@hotmail.com to ask me, and tell me where. (You can comment at that address as well.)  
  
Don't forget to review. ^_~  
  
  
  
Turn Back Time  
  
Chapter One: Birth, Death, Time, and Other Impossible Entities  
  
Bradley Crawford sat back and set his pen down after putting a blue 'x' through another day on his five-year calendar. He marked out the previous day every morning when he got to the office. It was a routine, it was habit, and it was comfortable to see the progression of the month. This month, May, was the hardest month of the year for him. All the children left for summer vacation, and the halls of Rosenkreuz were eerily silent. It made him feel old –older than forty-eight- and every year he dreaded it. Not to mention the fact that in five days it would be the twenty-first, and it would signal the day his life changed twenty years before. Almost like an anniversary.  
  
He sighed but gave a slightly lopsided smile as he surveyed his office. Eighteen years ago he'd come back to Rosenkreuz and slowly taken it over. It's abusive, power hungry headmaster had been the last man he'd ever killed, but it was a death he could live with. He'd announced to the student body the next day that he was the new headmaster, and things would be different from then on. Brad had quickly weeded out the students who were to tightly tied to the old way of things and moved them away. He made several changes to the cirriculum and brought new students in. It had taken some time and adjusting, but Brad Crawford had made it a haven for 'gifted' children instead of a hell on earth. He was rather proud of his project.  
  
The American moved a picture of a dark haired little girl back into perfect symmetry on his desk and smiled again. She had come along eighteen years ago as well. Her parents had left her to the faculty of Rosenkreuz right before his arrival. After he had replaced all of the staff, he found out that her parents were dead, and that the child had no name. Seeing no other option, he adopted the girl and named her Lai.  
  
Lai had been a mystery from the beginning. She looked like him, with straight black hair, bright blue eyes, frameless glasses, and a gift for the future. But Brad had figured out early on that clairvoyancy was not the child's foremost talent. It was secondary, as if it were a part of her main ability. When he had been a victim of her ability and realized what it was, he had to wonder if she was the only one in the world. She would be eighteen in summer and that meant she did not have to come back to Rosenkreuz in the fall.  
  
His eyes fell back the calendar and he frowned. He picked up his red pen, which had lain exactly parallel to the blue one, and circled the twenty-first in the piercing color. He counted the days again. Five, he mused. "Twenty years," he murmured. And still he was haunted by images from that day.  
  
A knock interrupted his reverie. He glanced up.  
  
"Enter."  
  
A student aid opened the door. "I beg your pardon, Herr Crawford. I know you do not wish to be disturbed during this time."  
  
He waved it off. "It's no matter. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Herr Naoe is here to see you."  
  
"Show him in." Crawford said. Nagi Naoe dropping by was quite a rarity indeed. He had become very successful in his Internet security company.  
  
A very grown up Nagi stepped into the office as the aid left. He grinned at his former leader. "It's been a while, ne, Crawford?"  
  
Brad stood and they shook hands over the desk. He motioned for the younger man to sit and they both did. "An understatement. I haven't seen you in what, five years? Your son brings pictures when he comes back during the term. Come to make sure we're training him right, have you?"  
  
Nagi laughed easily. "I'm sure you're doing a fine job. He was much more relaxed than ever before on his last break. He had me worried, you know. He's just like me when I was younger. Serious, brooding, passive. I realize what a handful you had."  
  
"We turned out all right, I think." Crawford said.  
  
"Yeah. I never could find Farfarello, though."  
  
Crawford stood and poured them both drinks. "I think he's happier, wherever he wound up. I think he finally realized hurting God wasn't everything."  
  
Nagi nodded and took the drink he was handed. "So what's Lai going to do? She's graduated, isn't she?"  
  
Brad nodded. "Yes. I don't think she plans to come back for advanced classes. I'm going to take her to Tokyo over the summer, maybe find her an internship there. We went a few years ago; she enjoyed it. What are you and your family going to do this summer?"  
  
Nagi grinned. "Yushimi and I thought that since Yui is ten and not quite as dark tempered, we'd take him to Disney World."  
  
Crawford stared at him before laughing. "Just make sure he doesn't 'enhance' the effect of the rides like you did the time we went to that carnival."  
  
Nagi pretended to look hurt. "Doshite? Wasn't it fun?"  
  
He laughed again. "Loads, all though we were all planning to kill you."  
  
The Japanese boy laughed. "Yeah, and Schuldig was threatening to scramble any noticeable brainwaves I ever had if I didn't let him off."  
  
Crawford smiled, but his face lost all expression, as he happened to glance at the calendar. Nagi looked at him.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"  
  
"No, no. I don't know why it still bothers me."  
  
Nagi and Brad both knew it was a lie as they stared at each other. The door flew open.  
  
"Oi! Otousan! The bus…. ah! Gomen ne, I didn't know you had company." The flustered girl stated as she backed out of the door.  
  
Brad waved her in. "Lai, this is Herr Naoe."  
  
Recognition sparked across her face. "Ah! It's a pleasure to meet you, Herr Naoe. Daddy's told me a lot about you, and Yui too."  
  
"Nagi, my daughter, Lai."  
  
Nagi stood and the two exchanged normal Japanese greetings. He turned to Crawford. "I'd better be going. I promised Yui I'd take him to lunch. Listen, we're staying in a hotel outside of Berlin until school gets out in two weeks. We should have dinner sometime. Yushimi would love to meet you."  
  
Crawford nodded and shook his hand again. "I'd love to. Give me a call anytime. It was good to see you."  
  
"Hai, you too. Ja ne, Crawford."  
  
"Ja, Nagi."  
  
"It was nice meeting you, Lai."  
  
"You too, Herr Naoe."  
  
With a final wave, the youngest ex-member of Schwarz was gone.  
  
Crawford smiled. "What were you saying about a bus, Lai-chan?"  
  
Lai was still staring after Nagi. "Wow, Yui looks like his dad."  
  
Brad rolled his eyes. "Lai, darling, a bus?"  
  
She looked at him. "Oi! Hai! The buses with the summer guests arrive in half an hour." She said with a smile.  
  
Brad stared at her. "Tell me you're kidding."  
  
"Iie, the driver called."  
  
"They aren't supposed to be here for two more days! What happened to the layover in Paris?" the American said.  
  
"The hotel misplaced the reservations. No layover. Gomen nasai, otousan."  
  
Brad flopped down in his chair. "I'll have to compensate with room arrangements. Half the rooms we need won't be ready."  
  
"Open the lower east wing." Lai said, lying haphazardly in the chair across from him.  
  
"Absolutely not."  
  
"Daaaad. They were isolation rooms once, but they aren't anymore. They have windows and everything. All they need is a little cleaning and some decorating. We can do that in half an hour. Especially with the telekenetics."  
  
He relented. He had put off renovating the lower east wing for quite a while. He knew a lot about that wing that others did not. It was time to move on, he decided. "Very well, Lai. If you can do it, go for it."  
  
"Hai! Arigato, otousan!" she was out of the room in a flash.  
  
  
  
Thankfully, the busses were fifteen minutes late, giving Lai time to complete her project. She had enlisted the help of several students not in class, and they had the lower east wing cleaned up in no time. She now stood at the end of the hall, eyeing the line of dorm rooms critically. Everything had to be just right, or it wasn't fit for her father's standards of perfection. It was something she picked up from him.  
  
A young girl dashed into the hall, tapping her on the shoulder. "Ne, Lai-chan! They've arrived."  
  
Lai gave the hall once last glance over and nodded. "Good. Tell my father, would you? I have some work to do in the library."  
  
"Hai, Lai-chan!" the second year student dashed away again.  
  
Lai brushed a lock of hair out of her face and went up to the library. She did have work to do, but it also offered the best view of where the busses came in and the students that came in on them. She sat in the window seat and stared down at the parking lot. And in three, two, one…  
  
The first bus pulled into the driveway. This would be the younger kids, she knew. They'd be staying the other halls. They piled out of the bus, abandoning the majority of their luggage in their excitement to get inside. She grinned to herself. She knew there had been a time when the children had been dragged through the gates and kept in by bars and guns, but now they were happy to be here.  
  
Lai watched the second bus pull up and the older kids get out. They weren't as gung-ho about it, but they were glad too. She waited until all of them were off and stood up from her perch. An image danced in her head, which made her look back outside. Sure enough, one more boy got off the second bus. Lai sucked in her breath.  
  
His deep chestnut brown hair fell a little past his ears and his dark hazel eyes glittered in the sunlight. /He's beautiful, / Lai thought.  
  
Then he looked up at her. She jolted and backed away from the window, hiding in the shadow of a library stack. He continued to gaze upward for a moment, before catching his bag from another student. Lai watched him until he vanished into the building.  
  
She caught an image and spoke just before Crawford walked up behind her. "I didn't think we were getting any students over sixteen this year."  
  
"Just one. An American, if I remember his papers correctly. He's nineteen. He's already finished high school, but he's never had training for mental barriers and whatnot. Just what he's done on his own."  
  
"What ability does he have?"  
  
"He was listed as a telepath." Crawford replied quietly.  
  
"What's his name?"  
  
"He calls himself Hitner."  
  
Lai looked surprised. "An American with a one word German name?"  
  
Crawford shrugged. "You're a German with one word Chinese name."  
  
"Touché."  
  
"I'm afraid I'll have to postpone our Tokyo trip for about two weeks. I want to be here as the kids settle in, and I just have a funny feeling about leaving to soon." Crawford said.  
  
"A vision?"  
  
"Iie, just intuition."  
  
"Can I ask a question, otousan?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Why did you never get married?" Lai had been meaning to ask for quite some time. Growing up, she had thought it was natural for every child only to have one parent. She had only realized that most kids had a married mother and father (or divorced mother and father) when she had befriended Yui. Yui talked about his mother and father a lot. He asked her once why she didn't have one and she had told him she didn't know.  
  
Brad paused. He knew the question had been coming. He just never thought of an answer to give the girl. "I suppose I always felt guilty." He replied softly in German.  
  
Lai accepted the answer, noting the accent on 'guilty.' She knew more about her father's past than he thought, but only because of her ability to see the past, present, and future, and her ability to control time. She knew of his time in Schwarz, and that Nagi was one of four, but she had never been able to get clear pictures on the rest of that time. It was well guarded in her father, and since he had never worked on strengthening that aspect of her mental control, she hadn't been able to dig any farther. It bugged her.  
  
"I have to give orientation. Would you like to be there?" Brad asked.  
  
"Sure!" Lai nodded enthusiastically.  
  
  
  
All through opening orientation, Hitner stared blankly at the platform, ignoring anything Brad Crawford was saying. He really didn't want to be here, there was nothing these people could do for him that he couldn't do for himself. He didn't encounter that many other people that could pry into his brain. But for some strange reason, he found himself drawn to the offer that showed up in his mailbox one day. All he had to do was show up. He didn't even have to pay. So he went.  
  
And now he was completely bored. He pried into most of the little kids thoughts, which wasn't drop dead exciting, and the older kids were the same. They were all pretty much gripped by what the man in front of them had to say. That's when he saw her. The girl that had been watching him from the window. She was sitting on a chair amidst other faculty members of the school, smiling diplomatically. He tried prying into her brain. No avail. She had mental shields that he had never encountered before. Maybe this place was worth something.  
  
Lai felt someone watching her. Not just watching her either. She was getting the feeling she got when she instructed the second grade swim class of telepaths. Prying, eager little minds trying to read her and dig up memories. She had always been wary of telepaths. She scanned the room, keeping a smile on her face, until her gaze landed on him.  
  
Their eyes locked and time slowed to a stop.  
  
Quite literally. 


	2. One Plue One Equals...

A/N: Domo arigato for reviewing!!! Makes my day. ^_^ By the way, if anyone could email me at starchaser478@hotmail.com and tell me how in the world to get the html thing to work so I can do italics and bold, it would be greatly appreciated. I know how to save it as a web page….but it won't upload for some reason. Thanks a ton!!  
  
/indicates thought/  
  
indicates memories  
  
Chapter Two: One Plus One Equals…  
  
Lai scanned the bookshelf, looking for a plot she didn't already know the ending to. It didn't happen often, since every time she looked at a title, she saw the whole outline of the book. It was annoying. But that wasn't her main concern. Her father knew what had happened, and he wasn't happy about it.  
  
Lai didn't know how long she and Hitner had simply stared at one another while the world around them was in stasis. Finally, he had blinked and glared at her, and the world had come back to normal movement. Her father had looked back at her with a stern gaze. She had vanished the moment an opportunity had arisen.  
  
All her life, he had never exercised her time abilities, and she had always wondered why. He had always pressed her clairvoyancy, training her mind as well as he could in that aspect. She had always followed his wishes.  
  
Then it happened that afternoon when she didn't mean it too. She hadn't even concentrated on freezing time in that moment of staring at him. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't even positive she could say for sure it was her doing.  
  
But that meant that Hitner also had the capability of controlling time. That thought frightened and excited Lai all in the same moment. If he could, that meant she wasn't the only one, which meant there were rules, and she could be mentally more powerful. Lai snatched a book off the shelf and skimmed through the first couple pages.  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
Lai jumped. "Do?" she asked her father, batting her eyelashes.  
  
Brad narrowed his eyes. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, young lady."  
  
She cringed. She hated it when he called her that. "Orientation?" she asked innocently, wrapping a lock of dark hair around her finger.  
  
"Yes. How many times have I asked you not to do that? We don't know what the repercussions of stopping time are."  
  
Lai made a face. "There are repercussions for everything, not just freezing time. It would be smarter to learn more about it, not to shove it under a rug."  
  
Crawford gave her the we've-been-over-this look. "Why did you do it then? My speech wasn't that boring, was it?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "No. It wasn't even intentional. It just…happened."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "You didn't control it?"  
  
Lai realized her slip. "No, no. I just did it without thinking about it. It won't happen again."  
  
He nodded. "Good. You going to work with the little ones tomorrow?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Arigato. By the way, he gets over the loss of his wife then dies." He called over his shoulder in reference to the book she was holding.  
  
"Dad!" she exclaimed. "Irritating…" she muttered, putting it back on the shelf.  
  
She began skimming the shelf again. "Of all the things to do to a girl…" She pulled a thicker novel off the book and found herself staring into a pair of glittering hazel eyes.  
  
"Good evening," he said.  
  
Lai was almost shell shocked. He had an incredibly deep voice for someone his age. "Good evening," she replied cautiously. She put the book back and moved down the stack. His baritone voice followed her.  
  
"I hope you didn't get in trouble. I don't usually get carried away with myself." Hitner said. This girl unsettled him. She couldn't have done it. He was the only one in the world who could freeze and control time.  
  
Lai lifted an eyebrow. "I don't have a clue in the world what you mean."  
  
Hitner leaned against the side of the stack and watched her. She was still looking over titles. "Of course you do. You were the only one not affected. You were blinking. I could hear you breathing."  
  
She reached for a book and stopped, her fingers mere inches away from his. Lai stepped back and crossed her arms. "Very well. But aren't you a little self-assuming by thinking you were the one to do it?"  
  
He grinned, a wide grin that could have looked evil with the right glint in his eyes. "I always assume I'm the one to do it."  
  
/Oh, brother./ She thought. "And what if you weren't?"  
  
"Are you saying you were the one?"  
  
"What if I am?"  
  
"You'd be delusional." He laughed.  
  
"I've been able to freeze time since I was eight months old." She retorted.  
  
They stared at each other. /I was eight and a half months./ His thought resounded through her cranium.  
  
/I'm not believing this./ she replied.  
  
/I won't believe I'm not the only one./ They both thought.  
  
They both moved at the same time, grabbing for what was handy. He grabbed an abandoned coffee cup that was half full and she a hardback book. They flung the various objects at each other, and simultaneously jumped back, freezing them in the air.  
  
Lai gasped at the image between them. The book was still in midair, pages splayed in various directions. The coffee drops were scattered through the air, suspended in their flight, the coffee cup behind them.  
  
There was a click as someone else entered the library and the reaction was over. The book and coffee fell to the floor with a thud. Hitner shook his head in disbelief.  
  
"You weren't bluffing." He said.  
  
"Neither were you." She agreed.  
  
He ran a hand through his hair. "Well. Nice to meet you." He said. It wasn't exactly convincing. He walked away.  
  
Lai gaped after him. He was walking away? "Hey! Wait a sec! That's it? You're not even interested in knowing more about it?"  
  
He turned around and stared at her. She couldn't be serious. "Interested in what? We both have uncanny abilities. Isn't that what this whole freak school is about? You want a friend, find it in somebody else."  
  
She bristled. "This isn't a freak school, and might I point out you and I are just a little bit freakier than the rest? We can stop time and you don't even care that you aren't the only one? Not to mention, I never said I wanted a friend in you."  
  
"Well that's good." He started walking again.  
  
Her mind raced. He'd obviously been stopping and moving time a lot more than she had. Which meant he might be able to help her find out what happened to her father all those years ago. "Will you help me?" she called.  
  
He stopped moving again. "What?"  
  
"Help me. Just once, and I'll never bother you again."  
  
"You're kidding, right?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
Hitner looked at her for a long moment. She wasn't playing with him. She really wanted his help. "I'll think about it." He heard himself say. /What in the world…/ He groaned mentally.  
  
"Thank you." She said sincerely. Finally she could find out what the red circles on the calendar were for. She had asked once. All her father said was that every year he circled it in red was another year he broke a promise to a friend he had cared about.  
  
"Yeah." He was halfway out the door when she called out again.  
  
"You don't know my name." She shouted.  
  
"Lai." He replied, tapping his head.  
  
"Cheater." She grumbled.  
  
  
  
Crawford's body was sitting at his desk in his darkened office, but his mind was far away. His fingers idly twisted a pen cap as he stared off into space. He was remembering again. It was still as vivid as it ever was.  
  
He was running, running, and as fast as he could and still he knew it wouldn't be fast enough. He wasn't going to make it.  
  
Brad's eyes narrowed. Maybe it wouldn't end the same way this time…  
  
He flung himself along the sidewalk. Why hadn't he thought to take the car? The detour, he remembered. He wouldn't have been able to get to where he needed to go. He was seeing it again, the body on the sidewalk. The red spilling, pooling out underneath him. The red hair falling and brushing against the cement.  
  
He shut his eyes. It wasn't going to change. Twenty years and it wasn't going to change.  
  
He came around the corner. There he was. Fallen and silent. The body was there, just as he had seen. Schuldig! Nothing. The German was gone. He was screaming now, next to the body. Schuldig! Schuldig!  
  
Lai pushed the door open with a light click. Brad flinched as he was ripped out of his reverie. He looked up, and for a brief moment, Lai could see the haunted look in her father's eyes.  
  
"Gomen ne, otousan. I just wanted to say goodnight." She said softly.  
  
The look was gone and Brad smiled at the young girl. "Good night, Lai- chan." He frowned as a picture of something that could be played on his mind. "Lai," he called before she left.  
  
She turned back around. "Hai?"  
  
It was gone before he could develop it. It probably wasn't anything, but it had the feeling of that older boy in it. "Nothing. See you in the morning."  
  
Lai brushed a dark strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "See you in the morning." She echoed.  
  
Brad's body slumped in the chair as the door clicked shut again. He squeezed the pen cap between his thumb and forefinger. "You're haunting me on purpose, aren't you? You just couldn't leave me alone. You could never leave me alone. Would you?" he murmured.  
  
He squeezed the cap to tight, and as it sailed out of his fingers, he remembered a quote he'd read somewhere. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. A half smirk crossed his face as he thought about it. How true it was. How true it was.  
  
  
  
Morning dawned, making the sunlight stretch across Lai's room. It touched her face and she grumbled an inaudible complaint and rolled over onto her back. She flung an arm over her face and sighed. She waited a few minutes before stretching, yawing and blinking her blue eyes open. As soon as she did, it took her a moment to realize there was something in her room that shouldn't be. Rather, there was someone in her room that shouldn't be.  
  
She recognized Hitner, but shrieked anyway, jerking back against the headboard. He glared at her.  
  
"You want to wake everyone up?" he asked.  
  
She pulled her covers against her chest. "What do you think you're doing in here?" she demanded angrily.  
  
He smiled, almost coyly. "You said you wanted my help. I told you I'd think about it. I thought about it. What is it exactly you want from me?" 


	3. If I Could Turn Back Time

Chapter Three: If I Could Turn Back Time  
  
Lai watched for any sign of reaction in the man straddling her desk chair. She leaned against her windowsill, now dressed in black jeans and a blue blouse. Hitner folded his arms over the back of the chair and stared blankly at her.  
  
She sighed and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"  
  
He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I understand. I've done it before. I just don't understand what you need me for."  
  
"I can't reach back that far in time to see what happened. I can only get bits and pieces of it. The only clear history I can get is from sixteen years to present day." She said.  
  
"How old are you?" Hitner asked incredulously.  
  
"Almost eighteen."  
  
"That's pathetic. You haven't used it enough. If you'd use it more you'd get better at it. It's like any thing else, if you don't exercise it, it doesn't work."  
  
She glared at him. "Daddy never wanted me to. He said that there might be consequences for that kind of thing."  
  
"Don't be naïve. He didn't want you using it because he didn't know what kind of power it would give you." Hitner said with disgust.  
  
She looked shocked. "He wouldn't do that to me."  
  
Hitner rolled his eyes. "Of course he would. Any one would. Think about it, Lai. We could rule the world with the kind of power we have."  
  
"I don't want to rule the world. It would be boring." Lai muttered. "Anyway, can you do it?"  
  
"Of course I can do it. There's only one thing."  
  
"What?"  
  
Hitner leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "If you could focus far enough back, you could do it on your own because you know him well. He's your dad. I would need something connected to that time in his life. You only want that one day, right?"  
  
"Yeah," she said slowly. She didn't like where this was going to wind up.  
  
"Well? Is there anything like that? It has to something tangible." He said.  
  
Lai fidgeted with her fingernail for a moment. "Well…there is one thing,"  
  
"Great. What is it?"  
  
"It's a coat."  
  
"You don't sound very sure about it."  
  
"It means a lot to him. It's one of those 'off-limit' things, you know? I've only seen it once, but it just had this ethereal feeling about it. Kind of like it was sacred."  
  
He had to smile at the sincerity she had. "Well, we'll make it quick and put it back. You'll know why he circles every May twenty-first in red, and he won't be any the wiser."  
  
She stared at him for a minute. He really was beautiful. He had an exterior of being harsh, but he seemed somehow harmless underneath that. "All right." She said quietly.  
  
Suddenly he felt nervous about this entire ordeal. She was placing a lot of trust in him, and she had only met him yesterday. He stood and stretched. "Let's go then. Where is it?"  
  
"In his office."  
  
The two crept into the office. Brad Crawford was no where in sight, and Lai knew he wouldn't be back for at least two hours. He was doing some game with the younger kids. Once seeing that there was no one in the office, Hitner strode in and flopped down on one of the couches.  
  
"Nice thing your dad's got going here." He said, gazing around.  
  
She ignored the comment and walked over to a chest on the far wall. Lai pulled open one of the doors to reveal several coats. There was a black raincoat, a black dress coat, a black dinner jacket, a black snow coat and finally a white double-breasted blazer.  
  
"Jeez, doesn't he wear anything but black?" Hitner asked with amazement.  
  
"In coats, no." Lai replied, gently taking the white coat off the hanger. It was soft and perfectly clean, as if it hadn't been worn in years. She brought it over and sat next to Hitner.  
  
He ran his fingers over the material. "It doesn't look like your dad's coat. It's to narrow, maybe."  
  
"It isn't." She pulled the collar towards her and flipped the tag on the inside. Underneath the label was a word. "It's says 'guilty.' It's not dad's handwriting. But he's had this coat for as long as I can remember. He's just never worn it. He just keeps it around, like a memento."  
  
"Did it never occur to you just to ask him why the word was on there?" Hitner asked dryly.  
  
"No."  
  
"Think you'd get a bad reaction?"  
  
"I know I'd get a bad reaction." Lai said.  
  
"Hn. He hides a lot behind those shields of his." Hitner said.  
  
"Everyone does."  
  
He grinned. "Naturally. So, you're sure you really want to do this? You realize I'll be able to see everything that happens too."  
  
"Can you keep your mouth shut about it?"  
  
"If it makes the lady happy."  
  
"It would."  
  
"Then it shan't be heard to a soul by me."  
  
"Let's do it."  
  
"All right. Close your eyes, get a good hold on the coat. Now focus on the past, and more specifically, your father. It's like a rewind button in your head. Look for that day." Hitner instructed carefully. They had to do this just right, because if they focused too much of their energy, the results would be disastrous.  
  
Lai could see her father and blurred images of him in her mind's eye. It was like a tape rewinding, going backwards at amazing speeds. She could make out the time he came to Rosenkreuz, which meant they were getting close to that day.  
  
/When we get close, just slow your focus down./ Hitner whispered into her mind.  
  
Lai was looking. Closer and closer and she still wasn't sure of when to stop. She knew when she saw a flash of red. They had made it. And May twenty-first played out like a movie in their minds.  
  
Bradley Crawford sat and stared mindlessly at his computer screen. There was nothing here. There hadn't been anything for forty-five minutes, and checking ahead, there wasn't going to for another two hours. Of all the things he had to get stuck with, why did watching the wormed computer of Omi Tsukiyono have to be it?  
  
He drummed his fingers on the desk. He might as well stay where he was. There wasn't anything better to do with his time. Farfarello was drugged and neatly stashed away in his straight jacket, Nagi was surfing the web trying to hack into government sites, and Schuldig hadn't been in the house since eight that morning.  
  
He felt a distinct twinge when he thought about the German. It was his fault that he had stormed out of the house. As an immature end to the dispute, he had told Schuldig to drop dead. Schuldig had coldly retorted by telling him to be careful what he wished for.  
  
Brad rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, marking out the day with a red 'x'. It was a waste anyway. He would have to apologize later. He then realized he'd used red to mark the day instead of blue, and muttered a low curse. He didn't have any white out left, either. He scratched at the ink absently and decided to entertain his 'sixth sense.'  
  
He instantly regretted it.  
  
His whole body seized up as he saw the black car careening around the corner; the startled look in the jade eyes, the silver bullet, the red on the cream colored coat; the flame hitting the sidewalk.  
  
Brad emitted a strangled cry as he pulled away from the vision. He looked around, gasping for breath, desperate for an answer. It was real. Schuldig was gone, he was still there, and the computer screen was still blank.  
  
/Schuldig!/  
  
He snatched his coat and was gone as the door slammed behind him. He could still make it. It wasn't over yet. It might not have even happened. /Schuldig!/ He saw the future, not the past or occurring. The future. He could still stop it. He could fight the future.  
  
As soon as he hit the first corner he knew he was wrong. He was running, running, and as fast as he could and still he knew it wouldn't be fast enough. He wasn't going to make it. He flung himself along the sidewalk. Why hadn't he thought to take the car? The detour, he remembered. He wouldn't have been able to get to where he needed to go. He was seeing it again, the body on the sidewalk. The red spilling, pooling out underneath him. The red hair falling and brushing against the cement.  
  
He came around the final corner and froze. The entire world fell silent. He could hear the wild thumping of his heart, hear his breaths come out in short gasps. But all he could see was the body on the sidewalk. Schuldig was lying on the sidewalk, unmoving, and unresponsive to the screaming going on in Brad's mind.  
  
He should have responded to the screaming. Brad made his body move towards him. He could still get to him. Schuldig wouldn't just leave him like that.  
  
Brad could feel the wetness of tears on his face as he knelt by Schuldig. He had failed as a leader, as a partner, and as a friend. He reached out and brushed his fingers across Schuldig's cheek.  
  
"Schuldig…" he whispered. His flesh was cold under the American's touch. /Schuldig?/ The thought rang hollow.  
  
Brad fought for emotional control as he pulled the body into his arms. He held Schuldig's head against his chest and kissed the top of his head before leaning his face against it.  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Schuldig. I shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry I didn't make it." He whispered into the flame red hair. Tears trailed down his face, as the leader of Schwarz was broken.  
  
"Let me change it, God! Please let me change it," he cried.  
  
Brad was sobbing, clutching to the telepath as if he was all he had. The Japanese teenager was silent as he came upon the scene. He'd followed Crawford from the house; afraid he would find something like this. He stood next to them, saying nothing. Brad looked up at him and Nagi realized it was the first time he'd seen their leader hurt.  
  
"We were supposed to be able to survive anything." Brad said, half to himself and half to the boy.  
  
Nagi bit his lip. "He's gone, Crawford." He said quietly.  
  
He ignored the comment and pressed his face against Schuldig's head again. Nagi almost didn't hear the words their leader spoke next.  
  
"One day, somehow, I'm going to make this right for you, for me, for us. I promise you, I'll find a way. You said you'd follow me to the ends of the earth, Schuldig. If it's the last thing I ever do, I'll bring you back from them."  
  
Nagi waited a moment before placing a hand on Crawford's shoulder. He was going to miss the German too, but he wasn't coming back. He heard sirens in the distance. "Crawford," he said softly.  
  
Brad closed his eyes and held his comrade for a moment longer before laying him back on the pavement. Nagi looked around to the windows in the street. They couldn't be seen and the sirens were getting closer. The oracle stood and backed away from Schuldig. Nagi tugged on his sleeve.  
  
"Adieu." He murmured.  
  
Nagi cast one last glance back at Schuldig.  
  
And the memory faded.  
  
  
  
Lai and Hitner both pulled away from their look into the past, silent. Their gazes met and he pushed the coat away from him and into her lap. He stood and went to the window. Lai grasped the coat in both hands. It had been Schuldig's coat. That's why his name was in it.  
  
She replayed the last promise over in her mind. /I promise you; I'll find a way. If it's the last thing I ever do, I'll bring you back from them./ That's what her father had meant when he told her every red circle marked another year he didn't keep a promise to a friend. An idea sparked in the back of her mind. She turned to Hitner.  
  
"Can we change it?" she breathed.  
  
He cast a startled glance at her. "Change it?" he echoed.  
  
"Yes, change it. Go back, make it different." She expanded.  
  
"Are you out of your mind? You can't do something like that! It,"  
  
They froze as a click was heard at the office door. Lai gasped.  
  
"My father," she whispered.  
  
Hitner closed his eyes. Lai jumped up and grabbed his arm. "Don't! He'll know if you freeze it, he always knows."  
  
"The coat, you idiot, do something with the coat then," he hissed.  
  
Lai glanced at the door and around the room. She couldn't get the coat back in the chest before her father walked in. She turned her eyes upward in a quick prayer of forgiveness and shoved the coat behind the couch.  
  
Hitner sat on the arm and she took the cushion just as Brad walked into the room. He was startled to see them in there.  
  
"You two need something?" he asked, glancing between them.  
  
Lai shook her head. "They're doing a project in the library so we thought we'd come here to talk. We can go now." She said.  
  
"I'd appreciate it. I've got some business to take care of."  
  
Lai and Hitner stood, disappearing into the hall. The door clicked shut behind them and they breathed a sigh of relief. Hitner knew the girl wasn't going to let the idea go that quickly and mentally sighed.  
  
Brad watched where they had gone even after they're footsteps had died away. He wondered what they had really been up to in his office. Lai had never lied to him before. He looked down at the calendar and the day marked in red. He took a deep breath as a feeling of uneasiness came over him. She had never lied before. 


	4. Do You Think Time Would Pass Us By?

Author's Notes: Thanks for being patient everyone, and sorry for the delay. I've been out of town for a couple of weeks, with limited computer access. Enjoy! R&R!  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Four: Do You Think Time Would Pass Us By?  
  
Lai waited until they were out of earshot from her father's office to attack Hitner with the plea again.  
  
"Why? Why can't we change it?"  
  
He looked around and leaned close to her. "Do you have any concept of what you're really suggesting? If we go back and stop that man –criminal- from dying, everything would change. Your father would never come back to Rosenkreuz, Nagi would never meet Yushimi, Yui would never be born, and people who were supposed to live will die. It only takes one person to screw up history."  
  
Lai slapped him. "That criminal meant something to my father, you creep. And I would look in the mirror before you use that word on anyone else. Did you ever stop to think that maybe the two of us were brought together so he could live?"  
  
Hitner had recoiled with her physical hit. He glowered at her. "Did you ever think that maybe he's just supposed to be dead?" he asked coldly.  
  
"You heard what my father told him just as clearly as I did. We could be the way." She said.  
  
He shook his head. "I refuse to have any part of it. There's another trick to this, angel. If we turn time back before the dates of our birth, we could cease to exist."  
  
"Could or will?"  
  
"Could. I've never tried. I've just been warned."  
  
Lai tilted her head. "Warned? By another time controller?"  
  
Hitner nodded.  
  
"There's a third?" she exclaimed.  
  
"He was old when I met him. He told me I was the only one left. He's dead now."  
  
"I'm sorry." Lai said.  
  
Hitner shrugged. "No skin of my nose. I was perfectly happy being alone until you showed up." He began to walk away.  
  
Lai put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, you showed up here! And I'll do it without you!" she shouted. "Men." She growled when he was gone.  
  
The two young people avoided each other adamantly all through the rest of the day. Crawford watched with passive interest. He knew, just knew that something was up between the two of them. He was still concerned about Lai lying to him. It all had to do with her time ability, too, he knew. He attempted to discuss it with her, but she dismissed it; and he let the matter drop.  
  
Watching her go off to her room for bed that night, he wished he hadn't. The funny feeling he'd had all day was growing by the minute. He retired to bed as well, restless and feeling alone.  
  
  
  
Lai sat on her bed and focused her mind. She found the mental rewind button that she had created and pushed all her energy into it. She could feel the world blur by her. It was like being underwater in a storm, and she was subject to the will of something out of her control. She let go, and the blur disappeared, leaving her in her room, still on her bed. She looked at the clock.  
  
The neon green light flashed an ominous 10:50p.m.  
  
"Ugh!" She yelled. She flopped back on her bed. "Five friggin minutes. A lot of good that does me. I can't go back twenty years five minutes at a time." She threw a decoration pillow at the wall.  
  
Lai closed her eyes and focused again. When her head started to hurt, she let go.  
  
10:42p.m.  
  
"Shimatta!"  
  
Her door flung open. Hitner stood there, auburn hair falling around his face, hazel eyes flashing.  
  
"What in the name of the saints do you think you're doing?" he hissed.  
  
"Come in and shut the door if you're so interested." Lai snapped back.  
  
He shut the door and sat on her desk chair again. "It really was annoying to re-read four pages in a book before I caught on."  
  
"The maybe you should read an easier book." Lai said flatly.  
  
He started laughing. "How far did you get? Twenty minutes?"  
  
She hesitated before blurting out, "Thirteen."  
  
He laughed even harder and shook his head. "You're completely hopeless."  
  
"I don't see you helping."  
  
He sighed and stared at her. She was lovely in a fierce sort of way. There was a fire subdued underneath her cheerfulness. A passion that was showing in her honest if not futile attempts to change the past. She looked up and blue locked with gold.  
  
"You are really willing to risk your life and the course of world history to save one man?"  
  
She nodded. "But not the man you think."  
  
"If you can be patient enough to wait until midnight," Hitner started; he sighed and softened his tone, "I'll help you."  
  
The spark lit in her eyes. "You mean it?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
She jumped up and hugged him on the spot. "You're beautiful." She exclaimed.  
  
He shrugged her off. "I'll be right back."  
  
Lai sat back on her bed and waited. If everyone had a reason for being born, this –just maybe this- was hers. And his.  
  
Hitner reappeared. He was dressed in black slacks, a black turtleneck, and carried a black bag.  
  
"What's that for?" she asked.  
  
"In case we survive and show up in Tokyo, 2002." Hitner said. "You may want to pack some stuff too."  
  
She nodded and grabbed a bag from under her bed. As she packed, she thought. "If we just disappear, do you think we'll be reborn later?"  
  
"I don't know. It's possible."  
  
She placed some clothes, books, and her weapon of choice in the bag. "Will they remember?"  
  
"No."  
  
Lai zipped the bag and stepped into her closet to change. She picked out a dark purple shirt and black jeans. Hitner couldn't stop himself from watching her silhouette as she changed, and looked away blushing slightly as she reemerged.  
  
Completely oblivious, Lai flopped onto her bed and sighed. "Time yet?"  
  
"Not yet."  
  
Minutes ticked by in silence as neither could find anything to say.  
  
Finally, "We can go now." Hitner said quietly. He moved and sat across from Lai on her bed. He held his bag in his lap and she did the same.  
  
"Give me your hands." He ordered.  
  
She slipped her fingers into his and waited for the next step. He took a deep breath. This wouldn't be so bad either way. He didn't have anything to live for in this time, so if they vanished it wouldn't be his loss. He could always find something new if they made it. They were better off either way. Even if she was beautiful.  
  
"Close your eyes." He said.  
  
They both did.  
  
/Now focus, like we did with the memory. Just focus everything. Hold nothing back at all. Nothing. Your entire mind has to be on this./  
  
Lai cleared her mind of everything. Or so she thought.  
  
Hitner half smiled. /You've got to let him go if you're going to change it for him."  
  
/I don't know if I…/  
  
/You can./  
  
Lai Crawford bit her lip and slowly let the image of her father fade away. Hitner instinctively squeezed her right hand.  
  
/Find the rewind button./  
  
/Got it./  
  
/Me too. Ready?/  
  
/Ready./  
  
/Let's go./  
  
Their combined energy slowly melted the world away. The underwater blur Lai had felt before was now a raging tempest of events taking place in the twenty years they were so casually undoing. They held on tighter to each other's hands as the strain became greater and greater, and the pressure became stronger. Years melted away, as the two of them un-wrote what had been written.  
  
  
  
Crawford turned his head, as his sleep became restless. There was warmth emanating from something on his right, but he didn't know what it was. He felt something brush against his forehead and his eyes flickered semi-open.  
  
"Well, well. The almighty Brad Crawford decides to wake up."  
  
Crawford frowned. That voice…it was strange but somehow familiar.  
  
"Come on, Braddy, we don't have all day here. Some of us have meetings we have to go to or suffer the consequences. Did I mention the consequences involved golf clubs?"  
  
Braddy? No one had called him that since…"Schuldig?" he gasped.  
  
The tone in the voice dropped slightly. "At least we know you don't have amnesia."  
  
"Why would I have amnesia?" he asked absently. He was so disoriented…  
  
"Then again…"  
  
He forced his eyes fully open and met a green, sardonically smiling gaze. A gaze that belonged to Schuldig. Schuldig, sitting on the right side of his bed, grinning at him. He was wearing his usual shirt and slacks outfit, minus the blazer.  
  
The blazer, blood on the blazer…Brad inhaled sharply and looked away. What was happening to him? There shouldn't be anything strange about Schuldig sitting on his bed, alive and breathing. He lived with the man, and Nagi and Farfarello. Why then did he feel like he was lying next to a ghost of the past?  
  
"I know I'm not the most pleasant thing you would pick to wake up too, but you don't have to be so blunt about it." Schuldig said, a teasing note in his voice.  
  
Brad turned his head to look at him again, a mask of disbelief and confusion written on his face. Schuldig frowned and placed his hand on Brad's forehead for the second time.  
  
"What's the matter?" he asked, serious now.  
  
"What happened?" It seemed like the most sensible question at the moment.  
  
Schuldig sat back and watched his leader carefully. "We had a mission a day and a half ago. You got hit in the head by flying debris, believe it or not. I can't figure out how you didn't see it coming."  
  
Brad shot him a look.  
  
Schuldig held up his hands. "I meant literally. The brick that hit you wasn't pebble sized, you know."  
  
"I don't remember." Brad mumbled.  
  
Schuldig patted his shoulder. "Don't stress it. It's probably not something you want to remember anyway. Getting smashed in the head by a brick isn't something I would want to remember." He looked at his watch. "I have to go. I'd stay, but I don't trust Nagi and Farf on their own…" he shrugged.  
  
The German stood and moved away. Brad curled into the sheets as the warmth left him.  
  
Two minutes later he heard the nasal voice again, from downstairs. "Crawford, what did you do with my coat?" Schuldig shouted.  
  
/I didn't do anything with your coat./ Crawford said. He didn't feel like shouting, and why bother when you lived with a human intercom?  
  
/I heard that./  
  
Brad suppressed a grin, half hid in his pillow. Five minutes later he heard:  
  
"Never mind! I found it behind the couch!" /Of all places…I must have been drunk or something…/ He added mentally.  
  
/It wouldn't be out of the ordinary./ Brad retorted.  
  
Schuldig didn't dignify the comment with a reply. He, Nagi, and Farfarello were out the door a moment later, leaving the Schwarz household silent.  
  
Brad turned over and stared at the ceiling. Why did this seem so surreal? This was everyday life, just as it always was. He sighed. It was probably just the after-affects of the bump on his head.  
  
Which while painful, he still couldn't remember getting. 


End file.
